The High-Tech Committee’s second e-marketing bootcamp on June 9 picked up where the first bootcamp left off by focusing more on using social media and somewhat less on search engine optimization (SEO) and page optimization.

The format was the same, however, with four “bootcamp volunteer” companies briefly describing their e-marketing strategies and proposing a few specific questions for the panel.

Social media – particularly blogging and using web-based social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter for business purposes – is a relatively recent Internet phenomenon. But it is not one to be ignored, according to the panel.

The rise of social media is a big part of Web 2.0, which emphasized user-generated content through forums, product reviews, blogs and other information sharing venues. The cutting edge of web marketing now encourages consumers and end-users of a company’s products and services to set the agenda and drive the conversation.

This is a radical departure from corporate web sites of a decade ago, which were often referred to as “brochureware” in which a company put its best face on the web for users to read and updated it infrequently.

The issue for today’s e-marketers is to understand how peer-to-peer communications affects a company’s approach to the web. All of the new technologies and information sharing venues can be managed, according to the panel, and turned to the company’s benefit.

Providing insightful observations and comments on the panel were: Ted Shelton Vice President of Marketing for WhoWhere; William Gaultier, CEO of e-Storm International; Jim McFadyen, a consultant for SEO and Pay-Per-Click advertising; and Daniel Laury, CEO of LSF Network.

The four “bootcamp volunteers” were: Patrick Giacomini of The GreenBow, Rémi Vespa of Venus Software International, Jean-François Abramatic of ILOG, and Alain Amzallag of NetKleen. L’Atelier BNP Paribas, hosted the bootcamp at its San Francisco office. Jack Shandle of e-ContentWorks moderated the discussion.